Unit Assign:  Design Your Own Option (Needs Instructor Approval)

This is a class about social movements, so I want to know what you care about and how you engage with it outside of class. This assignment stresses the creative elements of sharing your message, and I hope you are able to make something you're excited to share with others. 

 Assignment Details

Before You Move Forward: How to Get Instructor Approval

 Set up a meeting with your instructor to share what you're thinking and ensure the scope of your plans are reasonable. Stay in touch before you get too deeply into things, to help you stay on track. Ensure your plans pursue the learning objectives listed below for this assignment. 

Your submitted piece should be a well thought out, designed, and produced. It is not simply stream-of-consciousness.  

But what am I creating? 

There are so many possibilities for this assignment.  Some of them, among so many others: 

• an account of changes you've recently implemented in your own community for social good
• interactive timeline of a social issue
• biography of little-known activists
• map of local activism sites/history
• voter's guide
• guide for participating in local democracy
• build a public-facing website related to class content
• develop a publicly-accessible podcast related to class content
• write (and produce?) a song or play or ...? 
• self-reflection of your own relationship with an issue (for instance: "5 Things I have in Common with a Climate Change Skeptic")
• and so many more...!  

What to turn in

A file or url link from which I can access your work.
It should have been created specifically for this class, not a recycling of something you've created for another class or purpose. If it's not self explanatory, include a brief description of what I need to know to better understand what you're turning in and how it meets the needs of this assignment. 

Reminder:  When taking part in a community's movement when you are an outsider to that community, be particularly aware of amplifying voices rather than speaking for them.

 Objectives

This assignment addresses the learning objectives:

• • Examine and explain how theories and concepts of communication apply to contemporary social movements, including, for example, how persuasive/rhetorical forces affect public ideas and discourse and how social movements function through a persuasive/rhetorical lens.
  • Explore, express, debate, and evaluate ideas and issues which matter to you personally, professionally, publicly, and ethically, for a variety of audiences.
  • Demonstrate ethical awareness, empathy, and being an informed consumer of messages,  such as through the ability to draw conclusions that reflect an understanding of multiple (and possibly conflicting) perceptions of a situation or sources of information

*This assignment used with permission from Christy-Dale Mauer, University of Colorado Boulder Department of Communication